Online Brand Reputation – who cares and what to do? www.costsavingmarketing.co.uk /online-brand-reputation-who-cares-and-what-to-do/

Tanya

As a full marketing agency we work with businesses which want to sell more and achieve a better brand exposure.

Last week we met with a customer who asked us: “Why should I invest time and effort in brand reputation and goodcustomer reviews? Look at all the websites which pay random people to leave positive reviews for their products.People know most reviews (apart from the negative ones) are fake. I won’t achieve credibility and even if I havepositive reviews on every review website people just won’t take them seriously. Waste of time”.

Do buyers believe customer reviews?

There is some truth in the above statement – most people know some positive reviews have been bought. Mostpotential buyers will only take into account the negative reviews as they are most likely to be left by people whoactually have an independent view about the product. The Guardian revealed that a number of UK companies buyfake reviews on websites such as Freelancer.com. The same article claims that their research shows reading threenegative reviews is enough to change the mind of 63% of consumers about making a purchase.

Are fake reviews illegal?

Here is what the Advertising Standards Authority says about paid-for reviews left on any platform online: “The strictAdvertising Code prohibits advertisers from falsely claiming or implying they are acting as a consumer … companiesshould also be aware that the practice of posting fake reviews is likely to be illegal (under consumer protectionregulations), and could be subject to investigation by Trading Standards or the Office of Fair Trading.”

Are fake reviews illegal? Click To Tweet

How to spot a fake review?

The list below is for guidance only. Please be aware that B2B industries are completely different. The reason is thattestimonials for the B2B industry can be easily checked online. Usually B2B testimonials would have the name ofthe person giving the testimonial and the company the person works for. Most of the time they can be easily checked

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if you have a Linkedin account.

How to spot a fake review:

1. The little details – does the person talk about their experience with the product/service or explain in-debt whatthe product is about? If too much focus is on the benefits of the product and all the benefits are explained in a“promotional kind of way”, then maybe the review is not trustworthy.

2. The one-review accounts. Check if the reviewer has only written one review or their reviews are all positive.As mentioned above, companies operating in the B2B industry can be excluded in this case.

3. Are reviews written with someone else in mind? For example, “My mother thought this watch was the perfecteveryday watch.” Not very convincing if it doesn’t come from the horse’s mouth.

4. If the review is too long and detailing all the positives of the product and even comparing products with theclear idea of telling why the product is much better than a competitive product, this might be an indication of afake review.

5. Is the review left by a verified account? A verified account means that the account holder actually purchasedthe product via its account and came back to leave a review. This scheme can be easily abused so it is notnecessarily one of the best ways to spot a fake review.

6. Trust review websites which take fake reviews seriously. Amazon and Yelp have clearly defined policies onfake reviews and delete businesses and accounts which are proven to pay for reviews.

What to do if you think your competitor is buying fake reviews?

There are many companies who would leave fake negative reviews on their competitors’ pages just to makethemselves look better. Unethical right?

Here is what you can do:

Contact the review website and ask them to verify the purchase of the account which left the review. For example,ask the review website to verify the purchase by asking the person who left the review to provide their order number.If the person cannot supply the information, you can ask the review website to remove the review. If they cannotremove the negative review, then leave a comment under the negative review saying something like “This reviewhas been recognised as a fake review. We will only consider this review as an authentic review if the personsupplies information about their unique order number. So far, this account has failed to provide the requested orderinformation and therefore the review is considered paid- for with the intention of ruining our company’s reputation.”.

If you are not allowed to comment on someone’s review then I suggest you go to another review website and leave areview for the review website. I know, I heard it, too – review the review website. See Yell’s rating and customerreviews – you may not be the only one dissatisfied with some review websites’ approach.

Is it worth investing time and effort to build brand reputation online?

Yes! Brand reputation is one of those intangible marketing assets which can definitely help position your brand as atrusted brand among your competitors.

There will be obstacles on the way but don’t take a shortcut and pay for reviews. Ask your customers personally toleave a review on a review platform of your choice. You can give them a ring personally if you are a small businessor send them an e-mail with step-by-step instructions on how to leave a review. During your call, or in your e-mail,give them an incentive to leave a review – 10% of their next order or a coupon they can use to get a freebie. The

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incentive shouldn’t imply you expect a positive review but it will show your customers you care about customerfeedback. This will help you create a great relationship with your customers and build a fantastic online reputation.

Do you spend time building your online reputation? Have you had troubles with fake reviews? What are yourshortcuts to spotting a fake review? Tell us in the comments section below.

Tanya

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